World’s most popular UC Browser mobile browser makes the leap to TV

China-based UCWeb today announced its latest step toward its multiple-screen dreams with its browser for smart TVs. UC Browser, known widely as the world’s most popular third-party mobile browser, is now available on Android-based Smart TVs.
The TV browser comes equipped with online video libraries, online shopping, and plugins that turn your smartphone into a TV remote. For now, the browser is only in Chinese. Users’ UC accounts sync across all their devices.
UCWeb is also planning a PC web browser to complete the chain across all platforms.
A recent iResearch report shows of the 210 million monthly active mobile browser users in China, UC Browser holds a 65.9 percent share. Usage of mobile browser doubled in China in 2013. UC Browser is the market leader in both China and India, and it claims to have 500 million active users globally.
UCWeb says smart TVs are expected to outsell regular TVs for the first time this year, so the company is effectively positioning itself in two fast-growing browser markets.

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Skype co-founder hops Singapore’s HipVan as angel investor

Singapore-based startup, HipVan today announced that Skype co-founder Toivo Annus has become one of its investors. The amount invested is undisclosed.
Besides Annus, HipVan’s investors include Singapore celebrity Jade Seah, tech entrepreneur Darius Cheung, and Singapore investment firm Silicon Straits.
“Toivo has a strong investment record in Singapore, and is committed to helping HipVan scale our business as we continue to grow. We are extremely excited to have him come on board the team!” said Danny, CEO and co-founder of HipVan.
Over the years, Annus has invested in quite a number of startups in Singapore, including Anafore, Redmart, Coda Payments and Milaap.
HipVan first launched in Singapore on April 2013. It then expanded to Malaysia just about three month after its launch. HipVan says that monthly revenue is growing rapidly but declined to reveal exact figures.

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Kickstarter gets hacked, tells users to change passwords

Summary: Kickstarter was hacked earlier this week, the crowdfunding site informed users on Saturday. While the company says the hackers didn’t gain access to credit card numbers and only two users were affected, it advised all users to change their passwords.

Kickstarter was hacked Wednesday night and the crowdfunding site advised users to change their passwords late Saturday afternoon.
The hack appeared limited to just two users’ accounts, Kickstarter said. While the company says that “No credit card data of any kind was accessed by hackers. There is no evidence of unauthorized activity of any kind on all but two Kickstarter user accounts,” the hackers did gain access to other types of information — including “usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords.”
In a blog post, Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler offered a Q&A:

“How were passwords encrypted?
Older passwords were uniquely salted and digested with SHA-1 multiple times. More recent passwords are hashed with bcrypt.
Does Kickstarter store credit card data?
Kickstarter does not store full credit card numbers. For pledges to projects outside of the US, we store the last four digits and expiration dates for credit cards. None of this data was in any way accessed.
If Kickstarter was notified Wednesday night, why were people notified on Saturday?
We immediately closed the breach and notified everyone as soon we had thoroughly investigated the situation.
Will Kickstarter work with the two people whose accounts were compromised?
Yes. We have reached out to them and have secured their accounts.
I use Facebook to log in to Kickstarter. Is my login compromised?
No. As a precaution we reset all Facebook login credentials. Facebook users can simply reconnect when they come to Kickstarter.”

Kickstarter said it’s improved its security measures and will continue to do so in coming weeks.

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Where's My Phone?!? Google to Roll Out Find My Android Service

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We've all misplaced our phones for a period of time. Maybe it only took a few frightened glances next to the couch or a quick look back at the restaurant table to retrieve it. For some of us, however, the loss was permanent, as our little black and grey finger candies were snapped up by the first person who wandered by. And we spent the rest of the day oscillating between fear and anger.
If you've got an iPhone, you've been covered for years now simply by activating Find My iPhone, a service that lets you locate, down to a fairly small circle, where your device is awaiting your rescue (or remote data-wiping if unobtainable). For Android users, however, you've had to rely on third party apps with limited capability to lead you back to your errant device. That is, until now.
The Official Google Blog, has announced that devices running the Android 2.2 Operating System will soon receive a new service, called the Android Device Manager. The upgrade, due out later this month, will include a number of features that will put it on par with Apple's lost phone security system.

If you discover you've lost your phone, you can go to any computer and log into the Android Device Manager, which will be part of the Google Play Store. All that is required is your Google account login, the same one you used to activate your Android phone.
Choose your registered phone and push out a signal to ring at full volume, even if your lost phone was last put on vibrate or silent mode. If this doesn't do the trick, find the phone as a blip a Google Map.
If you discover that your lost Android phone is on the move and you don't feel safe going into full-on vigilante mode (or are worried it will get turned off soon), delete all data on the device using a special built-in wipe mode, to keep your data safe from prying eyes.
If, like many, you've jailbroken and modified your Android phone, the Google blog says they're also introducing an Android Device Manager app, so you should be covered no matter

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